


It All Started With A Dare

by Hisa_Ai



Series: Truth or Dare [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Love, M/M, Multimedia, Romance, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 02:50:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16484645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisa_Ai/pseuds/Hisa_Ai
Summary: YouTuber Alec Lightwood is dared by his sister to follow a Magnus Bane make-up tutorial, and when the results are not so great, Magnus reaches out to offer to do Alec's makeup himself, and when they meet in person sparks fly.“Alexander, you’re going to mess up your makeup if you don’t learn how to eat properly, and I spent far too much time and energy on that to let a little chocolate mess it up,” Magnus laughed, leaning close to Alec and swiping his finger over the top of his lip, sending a shiver through Alec’s entire being.He showed his finger to Alec, showed him the flash of chocolate frosting that had been out of reach of Alec’s tongue, that was now resting on his finger tip. He had a mischievous look on his face that made Alec raise an eyebrow at him, curious as to what he was up to before he popped the finger into his mouth, lips closing around it in a way that made his eyes flutter.“We’ll just have to find some other way to mess up my make up, then,” Alec said at last, voice low and husky, a stranger to his own ears.





	It All Started With A Dare

**Author's Note:**

> **I'm really excited to finally get to post this fic because I have been working on it for so, so long now, you guys don't even _know_ , mkay, omfg. I might turn this into a series, depending on how well received this is, so definitely let me know what you guys think. Okay? Okay. Good talk.**

* * *

 

 

*****

 

Alec and his siblings had been on YouTube for around 6 years now; it had started as a competition between them, had started out as them issuing each other challenges weekly, and slowly turned into them doing their own things on YouTube in addition to the challenges, never quite losing their competitive edge.

 

They still met up weekly for what they called Game Night, and played a round of truth or dare. Always just one round, and there was never a surprise as to who was going to pick what, as it alternated; if you did dare one week, you were doing truth the next week, and then dare the following week. The only thing that changed was who was issuing the dare or asking the truth; they had another method for deciding that, which was often vlogged for at least one of their channels.

 

And there were consequences if you decided _not_ to post your challenge video for the week, but those consequences had only been delivered a handful of times throughout the years; none of them were all too keen to be seen backing down from a challenge, after all. Which was very much so good for the people who enjoyed watching them make idiots of themselves.

 

Though really, he _could_ have turned off the camera and just… not have done it. He could have backed out and not made a fool of himself on camera, could have paid the price for backing down from _this_ particular dare, and it would all be over and done with. He didn’t _have_ to do this to himself.

 

And besides, he was sure his audience would enjoy seeing him pay the price for not doing his dare just as much as they would enjoy seeing him do the actual dare. Either way, his audience won, so that was as much of a nonissue as anything could be.

 

Of course, if he backed out of it and texted his brother and sister to tell them he wasn’t doing this, _that_ would be admitting defeat. And Alec Lightwood did _not_ lose—or, at the very least, he did not lose by quitting, especially not to his siblings.

 

He couldn’t wait until the next game night; he was going to make Izzy pay _dearly._

 

But until then…

 

He cast his eyes down to the coffee table in front of him, at all his, erm, supplies that he had laid out in front of him, and tried to work up his courage.

 

It was _fine_ , really, he had done far worse things on camera before—his brother had personally seen to it—so why was he so _nervous_ about this little stunt? It was absolutely _nothing_ to be worried about. He would look and feel ridiculous for an hour, and two days after he posted the video his sister would post the video of her talking about the time she lost her virginity, and everyone would forget about _his_ video completely.  

 

It would really and truly all be fine.

 

Probably.

 

Taking in one final breath, he leaned forward and turned on the camera sitting on his tripod, and turned on his chipper persona, ready to get it over and done with already.

 

“Hey guys!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together and flashing the camera a smile that he _hoped_ didn’t come off as a grimace. “So my lovely sister Isabelle has given me _quite_ the task this week, and I’m sure you’re all going to love this—God knows she is—so,” he let out a breath, pausing for the dramatics of it—Jace _loved_ to tease him about that, with his numerous jump cuts and sloppy editing that made Alec roll his eyes.

 

“Dramatic pauses are for soap operas,” he often teased, but he could _bite_ Alec, because his last three videos had gotten more views than Jace’s had, dramatic pauses and all.

 

“In today’s video, I am going to be following a make-up tutorial by the one and only All That Glitters—AKA Magnus Bane,” he explained finally, smiling stupidly to himself as he said the name.

 

Not that anyone watching needed to know it, but he watched _all_ of Magnus’ videos, make up tutorials and all, and Alec knew that Izzy knew that—hell, everyone in their friend group knew as much, and they often liked to tease him about the crush he had that he would never admit was a crush at all, thank you very much. He just watched all of Magnus’ videos and thought he was the most gorgeous man he had ever laid his eyes on before. And he was smart, and funny, and unique, and well rounded, and Alec could and very often _did_ waste away whole afternoons stalking him on Instagram and watching his YouTube videos.

 

But a crush that was not.

 

And that did _not_ mean that Izzy had to make him follow along with one of his makeup tutorials. That was just _mean_ on her part is what that was, and he was already planning his revenge, thank you very much.

 

“The video I’m going to be following along with today is a casual night out kinda look, because I _do_ have plans tonight, and if it comes out looking decent Izzy says I have to keep the full face on, but if it comes out the way _I_ am expecting it to come out…” he trailed off with a shrug and a grin that he couldn’t help at the thought of this going _completely_ south and proving his point to his sister that some people—like him—were simply just not born to master the art of applying make-up.

 

“She has been gracious enough to grant me permission to take it off once the video is over. Now keep in mind,” he leaned towards the camera with a sly, secretive look on his face, “that when I say that, what I _really_ mean is that I threatened to leak some rather embarrassing childhood pictures if she didn’t let me take it off if it looked like crap, but drastic times and all that,” he revealed, sticking his tongue out at the camera, at his sister who would eventually be watching this.

 

He was going to get _quite_ the angry text when she did see this, but, well, it was only fair, he thought.

 

“Magnus, if you’re watching this, I am _so_ sorry that I’m about to butcher your look,” he added with a grimace, before he looked to his computer, and hit the play button on Magnus’ video without any more preamble.

 

 

It wasn’t like Magnus Bane _actually_ watched his videos, though, wasn’t like Magnus was going to _see_ Alec take his stunning look and turn it into… whatever it was going to turn into. He had gone out and bought everything the description had said he would need—and bless Magnus for including the list, honestly, otherwise Alec would have been so completely lost before he even started recording the video—and had it all laid out in front of him, but… just because he could _buy_ makeup didn’t mean he was going to know how to use it, because he really had no idea whatsoever just what the hell he was doing.

 

God, Alec just really needed for Magnus to _not_ watch this video, because if Alec found out that he had seen him make a _complete_ idiot of himself… he was going to absolutely die of embarrassment and have to kill Jace and Izzy, and he didn’t want Izzy’s blood on his hands.

 

As Magnus’ video played and the man on his computer screen went through his intro, Alec thought that the other reason Magnus didn’t need to watch this video was because he didn’t need to witness Alec making goo goo eyes at him on his computer screen, but that was neither here nor there, really.

 

When Magnus _finally_ got to the part where he started putting the make up on, Alec had to pause it, overwhelmed and confused as all hell already. He looked to his camera and gave it a _look,_ because this was going to be one hell of a ride, and had he mentioned just how dearly his sister was going to _pay_ for this?

 

*****

 

It could have been _hours_ later when Alec finally finished the video—or rather, when he finally finished watching _Magnus’_ video.

 

The table in front of him had open packages here, used make up wipes and sponges and brushes there, his tears and blood there _and_ here—and his face? It was absolutely in no better condition. _Apparently_ he had picked up the wrong shade of foundation because he looked like a god damn Oompa Loompa from the start, and it hadn’t gotten _any_ better from there.

 

He didn’t know how to blend, didn’t know how to contour, didn’t know how to put eyeliner or mascara on without stabbing himself in the eye—he hadn’t even _touched_ the lash curler, because that thing looked like it could have taken an eye out, and he was rather fond of both of his, thank you very _much_ —didn’t know where he was supposed to put the blush or if he was or was not supposed to smile when he went to put it on.

 

The only thing he had actually gotten right was the fucking lipstick, and that was really only by the grace of God.

 

All in all, the video was a success, but his future career as a makeup artist was seriously in jeopardy if he didn’t buckle down and get his shit together.

 

“Well,” he said to the camera, dropping the lipstick to the table in front of himself and looking up to it. He pressed his lips together, made his eyes real wide at it, before he continued. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you guys this was going to happen,” he shrugged. “Hopefully we’ve all learned what _not_ to do when applying makeup today and you can take my mistakes and do better in your own endeavors.

 

“Magnus, once again, I am _so_ sorry I had to drag you into this, but it was entirely Izzy’s idea, if you’re looking for someone to blame. But listen, if you ever have the time, you are more than welcome to come over and teach me how to actually do this look—let me redeem myself, Bane, I promise I can do better. That’s a lie, I can’t; you should just do my makeup _for_ me—call me, we’ll figure something out,” he said, his mouth _completely_ getting away from him all of a sudden.

 

God, now his audience was going to think that he wanted Magnus Bane to call him, that he _liked_ him or something—he could always edit that part out, of course, could always cut out all mention of Magnus Bane and keep his best kept secret, well, best kept.

 

He _could,_ but…

 

Where would the fun in _that_ be?

 

“He’s not going to call me,” he said then to his camera, his audience, by way of not getting his own hopes up, and not getting his audience excited about a collab that was not going to happen.

 

It was better that way, he told himself as he went through the rest of his outro, and then went about cleaning both himself and his living room up, suddenly melancholic over the reality of the situation.

 

*****

Magnus Bane called Alec exactly three hours and twenty-five minutes after he posted the video of him doing Magnus’ make up look.

 

Not that he, like, did the math on that or anything.

 

And Alec damn near _fainted_ when he asked who it was and Magnus said _All That Glitters, Golden Boy,_ but settled for moving the phone from his ear to stare at it for a moment, mouth opening and closing several times. His mind was racing, and his heart was doing the same damn thing, trying to decide if this was real or not, and how the hell _Magnus Bane_ had gotten his number to begin with.

 

Not that that was too terribly important, he guessed, as he put the phone back to his ear and quipped, “If you’ve been paying any attention at all you’d know that my _brother_ is the Golden Child and _I’m_ better than him.”

 

“ _And here I thought you were Better Than Gold,”_ Magnus quipped back, his voice laced with laughter and secrets that Alec wanted to have whispered into his ear as soon as heavenly—er, humanly possible.

 

“Same difference, isn’t it?” he asked, much too amused with himself.

 

Magnus laughed at that, his laughter music to Alec’s ears, the sound leaving goosebumps on his skin, sending a shiver down his spine.

 

It was then that Magnus mentioned seeing the video—and God,  Alec was _so_ glad that he couldn’t see the flush that had taken over his entire god damn face at those words—and said he would be absolutely _delighted_ to do Alec’s make up, but that it would be all the better if Alec came over to his place instead, because he had all his supplies there, and he had a space set up that had the perfect lighting for makeovers.

 

Really, he insisted, it just made more sense for Alec to go over to his place to do this instead.

 

And God damn, Alec couldn’t have dreamt up a conversation like this even if he _wanted to,_ because the next thing he knew he was saying yes he would be _thrilled_ to come over to Magnus’ house to let him do his make up when was a good time?

 

He knew he sounded desperate, and he knew he sounded like some lovesick fan, but…

 

Oh fucking well, he told himself as they went about setting up all the details, because coincidentally enough Magnus was free the _very next day_ if Alec was—and, for Magnus Bane, Alec was very much so free that day, and any other day that Magnus might want him for.

 

“ _It’s a date,”_ Magnus purred before they hung up, promising to text him the address so he could actually get there.

 

His parting words were for Alec to drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep, because the good base for any make up look was hydration and plenty of rest, he said, the mini lecture coming off as so god damn endearing.

 

Alec grinned to himself as they hung up and he went to text his sister, she wasn’t going to _believe_ this.

 

 

*****

 

Alec was trying very desperately _not_ to be awkward when he walked into Magnus’ house that next afternoon, but, well, he was only human, and could only control his reactions so much when faced with the stunning man that _was_ Magnus Bane in the flesh. He was only a man, and should have been forgiven for blushing and stumbling over his words so much.

 

Fuck, he really did need to get it out of his system before the camera was rolling though, but, when Magnus walked him into his bedroom after they had become a little better acquainted and had a snack and some drinks to relax… it was hard to _not_ look to the bed instantly, to _not_ let scenarios play out in his head and have his heart stumble over itself in its rush to control the situation.

 

God, he was a fucking dead man.

 

Magnus raised an eyebrow at the look on his face, at the way he was considering what looked like a _comfortable as hell_ bed. Then he smirked, and patted Alec on the shoulder, let his hand fall down to his hand to tug him towards the door just off to the side of the room.

 

“I usually save bed stuff for the second collab, but I might be tempted to make an exception for a pretty face like yours,” he said all too smoothly, making Alec blush a terrible deep red that made him _hate_ himself and Magnus in that moment.

 

This was all happening so fast; Alec barely knew Magnus, only knew what he posted of himself on YouTube, on social media, it didn’t make sense to already have fallen for him so hard. And yet, somehow, it still felt like he had known him for _years,_ felt like this was all so normal and natural. And he hoped to whatever god that there might be that Magnus felt the same way too, even if he wasn’t showing it like Alec was.

 

The room Magnus was dragging him to turned out to be where he did all of his makeup tutorials; it wasn’t quite a closet, wasn’t quite a bathroom, was just… an extra, adjoining room that was connected to the master bedroom for whatever reason that Alec was not going to question. It was full of ring lights, and a long table full of make up bags and hand-held mirrors.

 

Along the wall, there were more tables stacked with more makeup and makeup accessories; and Alec imagined that the drawers in them were also full of makeup.

 

In front of the table, centered between the two chairs perfectly, was a camera on a tripod just _waiting_ for them to join it. And Alec wondered if that camera stayed there and he had another one he used for vlogging and filming in other parts of his house, or if he had sat that up there just for this video.

 

“Shall we?” Magnus asked, raising a smug, pleased eyebrow at Alec.

 

Before he could answer, Magnus was pulling him towards the table and chairs anyway, and Alec thought that he was in too far to go back anyway.

 

*****

 

“Welcome ladies and gents and all my magical friends,” Magnus exclaimed for the camera, clapping his hands together excitedly, and God, his eyes were _shining_ as he said that, Alec couldn’t help but notice.

 

Not that he was _staring._ God, get it together, Lightwood, look at the _camera_ not the gorgeous—not Magnus. _Not Magnus. **Fuck**_.

 

“Today I am joined by the handsomer in person Better Than Gold—AKA _the_ Alexander Lightwood. As I’m sure many of you know, Alec here recently made a very valiant attempt at recreating one of my makeup looks, and I _do_ mean it was a valiant attempt, but, darling,” Magnus paused and looked to Alec, a look on his face like he was trying to let Alec down gently, like he was trying not to break his heart with whatever was going to come out of his mouth next, and Alec forgot for a moment that they were doing a _video,_ that this wasn’t _real._

 

God, it all felt so _real_ with Magnus already _._

 

“You could use quite a bit of practice at your… _technique_ ,” he said, taking a moment to settle on that word, it seemed like.

 

Alec grinned, rolling his eyes playfully as he was sucked back into the reality of it.

 

“Listen, I did my _best,_ okay, and I thought that was all that mattered.”

 

Magnus reached over and patted his hand sympathetically, and Alec usually would have been offended by such a thing, but with Magnus it only made his heart skip a beat. Fucking bastard.

 

“That’s just what they tell men who can’t help their partner achieve orgasm to make them feel better about their lack of sexual prowess—and _I_ have never been told something like that, if you were wondering,” he winked at Alec, who sputtered and turned a shade of red that he didn’t even have a word for.

 

 _God_.

 

“You’re going to edit that out, right?” Alec asked finally, when he could actually speak at all.

 

Magnus shrugged vaguely, “Maybe, I guess it depends on how entertaining you are the rest of the video.”

 

“You’re so evil,” Alec laughed despite himself.

 

Magnus laughed, too, and Alec thought that it sounded much better in person than it did over the phone, than it did in videos. Everything about Magnus was so much better _in person._

 

Why hadn’t he tried to set up a collab before now?

 

Magnus looked back to the camera once their laughter finally died down, and Alec’s face returned to its mostly normal shade.

 

“Anyway, as I was saying, Alec attempted to follow one of my makeup tutorials, and when it went… not well, he extended an offer for me to do his makeup for him, and who would pass up the opportunity to get their hands on those magnificent cheek bones?” he asked his audience, reaching a hand out to pinch one of Alec’s cheeks.

 

He swatted the hand away out of instinct, despite himself and the fact that he wanted nothing more than to have Magnus’ hands all over every inch of him, cheekbones included, though he had never given them much thought before this moment.

 

“God, why is everything you do so fucking _sexy?_ ” Alec lamented without thinking, lips pursed, staring at Magnus’ for a moment.

 

He realized, in the same second that Magnus seemed to, that he had said that _out loud._ In front of Magnus Bane. In front of the camera.

 

Well, _fuck_.

 

Magnus, though, thankfully, didn’t react much other than raising an eyebrow at him and flashing him a playful smirk that softened a moment later. And he knew without Magnus needing to say anything that he would graciously edit _that_ particular part out of the video.

 

And Alec was very much so already grateful for that fact.

 

*****

 

Magnus insisted that while he did Alec’s make up, Alec look up some questions on his phone for them to ask each other during the process—to better get to know each other _and_ to properly introduce Magnus’ audience to him, he said. And it wasn’t the _easiest_ thing in the world to maneuver his phone around Magnus trying to do this and that to him, but, somehow, he managed.

 

“Hold _still,_ Alexander,” Magnus said sternly, trying to keep the giggle from his voice as he did so.

 

“I’m trying to _read,”_ Alec grumbled in response, much too amused himself for there to be any real sort of heat behind it.

 

“You’re thinking too hard, just pick any of them,” Magnus insisted.

 

“Well, I don’t want to go with the _boring_ questions.”

 

“Who cares if they’re boring? If we learn something new about each other then it’s worth it, boring or not,” Magnus insisted.

 

Alec rolled his eyes and earned a disapproving purse of lips from Magnus that made him settle on the next question that his eyes landed on.

 

“Fine, are you more a coffee or tea person?”

 

Magnus made an excited, albeit thoughtful noise as the question left his mouth, and thus began their routine as Magnus went about doing his makeup. Alec would ask a question, Magnus would answer it, Alec would answer it, and all the while Magnus’ hands worked their magic over his face, brushing and pressing where it wasn’t even necessary to do as much, Alec didn’t think. He didn’t know what kind of look Magnus was going for, but if the way he did his own make up was anything to go by, it was going to be quite the interesting look indeed.

 

But, rather than trying to decipher how he felt about it, how he _would_ feel about it, he focused more on the questions, on the answers, on getting to know Magnus Bane in whatever small way that he was allowed to for however long that he was allowed to.

 

And it was _fine,_ it was nice, talking to Magnus, getting to know each other a bit while he got to just… sit there. And stare into Magnus’ eyes while the other went about his business applying this and that to Alec’s face with a sureness and precision that Alec found impressive. It was hard to remember how to talk at times, with Magnus so god damn close, with his eyes looking into Alec’s _like that,_ and if his breath caught in his throat a couple times… well, no one had to know that, least of all Magnus Bane himself.

__

__

__

__

__

__

 

When they finally finished, Alec was something too much like disappointed; he really couldn’t get enough of Magnus being so close to him, touching his face so gently and featherlight like that. He might have to find some way to get Magnus to do his makeup again in the very near future, if that was what it took to get Magnus close to him like that again.

 

Magnus handed him a mirror with a smirk on his face, and made Alec turn towards the camera before he was allowed to raise it to his face.

 

“Are you ready to see the new you?” Magnus teased.

 

“As I’ll ever be,” Alec shrugged, though his hands really _were_ itching to put the mirror up in front of his face to get a look at all Magnus’ hard work.

 

And he was _sure_ that Magnus had done a great job of whatever it was that he had done to Alec but, well, he had never worn a full face of makeup before—or, well, he had never worn a full face that was done by someone who _actually_ knew what they were doing, anyway—and really didn’t know what to expect from it, how he looked, how he would like it or feel about wearing it.

 

“Okay! Go ahead and look!” Magnus exclaimed, clapping his hands together as he did.

 

Alec gave him a quick look, and then raised the mirror in front of his face and—

 

“Well? What do you think? Don’t you look _gorgeous?”_ Magnus asked, eyes shining with an excitement that Alec was proud to be sharing with him.

 

Alec stared at the mirror for another long moment, taking in everything from the strong outline of his eyes to the subtle contouring of his cheekbones, and everything in between; Magnus had _certainly_ outdone himself on Alec’s Look, he would give him that much.

 

“It’s… wow,” Alec said finally, lowering the mirror to look at Magnus’ excited face, his eyes sparkling as he looked back at Alec expectantly, patiently. “I never knew I could look this…” he trailed off, waved a vague hand in front of his face, searching for the right word, and failing miserably.

 

“Handsome?” Magnus supplied, tone half teasing as he did.

 

“Something like that,” Alec replied, raising the mirror up again to take it all in.

 

He could probably do without the blush, and the mascara, and the strong eyeshadow, but, honestly, he might have to make his sister teach him how to actually put on eyeliner, because that was definitely A Look he could get used to and utilize himself every now and again.

 

“I just… never really thought I would look good in makeup,” he admitted finally, lowering the mirror again to offer Magnus a half shrug and a sheepish smile.

 

“The whole point of makeup, Alexander, is that it looks good on everyone, provided they know what they’re doing,” Magnus replied, reaching out to gingerly pat at his cheek, being careful not to mess up his handiwork. “But I really must say I did a good job on you; I didn’t think it was possible for you to look even more beautiful than you had when you first walked through my door, but here we are. You _are_ going to keep that on for the video we film for your channel, yes?”

 

*****

 

Alec very much so _did_ keep the makeup on for the video they filmed for his channel. It wasn’t even a real question, because Magnus had spent so much time and effort putting it on him, and he really did look good with it on, so he didn’t see the harm in leaving it on to film another video. If anything, it would get his audience to go over to Magnus’ channel to see the makeup being put on, so it was a win for both of them.

 

They took a quick break to go to the bathroom, stretch, grab a quick snack, and chat a bit more before they settled into Magnus’ living room with Alec’s camera now instead; he wanted a much more homey kind of feel in his video, and Magnus wasn’t arguing with him over the decision to plop down on his floor in front of his couch side by side at all.

 

He turned his camera on and grinned wide at it, flipping his YouTube switch on without even thinking about it as he began his intro.

 

“Hey, what’s up, you guys! So I am here today with the one and only Magnus Bane, otherwise known as All That Glitters. We just finished a collab on his channel where he did my makeup—as you can probably tell—because I did such a bad job of doing it myself in my last video. If you are trying to decide which video to watch right now, I would suggest going to Magnus’ channel to watch him do my makeup because it is so much better than whatever I thought I was doing—as you can tell by how great my face looks right now,” he grinned, gesturing to his face without actually touching it.

 

“Don’t sell yourself short, sweetheart, even _with_ that mess on your face you still looked great,” Magnus winked at him, and Alec was so thankful for all the makeup he had on, because surely it meant his blush wasn’t visible in the least just then?

 

“It looks better _now_ though,” Alec told him, insistently so, “But anyway. Magnus said it wouldn’t be fair to _not_ do a video for my channel too, so we’re going to be playing two truths and a lie. Magnus, would you like to explain the game for those watching who might be unfamiliar with it?” he asked, looking over to Magnus and raising an eyebrow at him to urge him to do as much.

 

“It’s really _quite_ simple, my darlings,” Magnus began, looking deeply into the camera, and Alec had to catch himself, and remind himself to look into the _camera_ too and not gaze at Magnus as he explained the rules of the game, though that was really quite the challenge.

 

If he spent too much time staring like a lovesick girl though, he wouldn’t have anywhere _near_ enough useable footage, and he simply could not deprive his audience of seeing Magnus Bane, so he needed to _focus._ For all of their sakes.  

 

“So. Which one of us should go first?” Magnus asked, looking over to Alec expectantly, and God fucking damn it, Alec had spent Magnus’ _entire_ explanation just looking at him, thinking about not looking at him, and failing terribly awfully.

 

_Fuck._

 

“Oh, ah, well, since you’re the guest here, why don’t you go first?” Alec suggested, if only to give himself a moment to come back to his senses.

 

Magnus quirked an amused eyebrow at him but said nothing else, but Alec caught the smug sort of smirk he had about him before he let that fall off and fell into the game instead.  

 

 

*****

 

“Okay so this has been two truths and a lie with All That Glitters,” Alec said, clearing his throat as he looked away from Magnus’ smug, grinning face and back to the camera. “And being the gracious host that I am, I _did_ allow him to win—”

 

“Bull _shit,_ ” Magnus laughed, more amused than offended by the tease.

 

Alec looked over and flashed Magnus an amused grin before he looked back to the camera.

 

“So I suppose I owe him dinner now. And I can’t promise video footage of said dinner—”

 

“We’ll see about that.”

 

“—but I _can_ promise a cryptic Instagram post that will only make sense to you guys once this video goes up. So, I guess we’re gonna go talk about where Magnus wants to go to dinner, and take it from there?” he looked over to Magnus with a questioning quirk of his eyebrow and was met with an enthusiastic nod in response.

 

“And don’t worry, I’ll make sure he keeps the makeup on the entire night,” Magnus promised solemnly.

 

“Of course you will,” Alec rolled his eyes in good nature, and then looked back to the camera. “So go check out Magnus’ channel and the video we did over there, and I will catch you silver arrows in the next one.”

 

Alec flashed the camera one final smile as Magnus waved at it enthusiastically before Alec reached over to switch it off, heart pounding once it was finally off. He was alone with Magnus now—again, after all of… _that_. And it was so exhilarating and terrifying, and Alec wanted to find the nearest exit to escape the pounding in his chest that _almost_ made him want to throw up.

 

God, he was such a nervous idiot; Magnus was never going to speak to him again after this, never mind collab with him again.

 

Magnus cleared his throat then, and Alec snapped his eyes back over to him. He thought that it should have been awkward, that with anyone else he had collabed with such silences after the last camera was shut off _were_ awkward for at least a minute or two, but… It was so natural, sitting there next to Magnus like that, silence hanging over them so comfortably. It was like he had been in Magnus’ apartment a million times before, like he belonged there.

 

Alec smiled at Magnus at that realization, and wondered what it meant before he shook it off a moment later. All it meant was that Alec owed Magnus dinner. That was all _any_ of this meant _._

 

(For now, anyway.)

 

“So,” Alec said then, finally, eyes locked onto Magnus’ waiting, expectant ones. “where did you want to go for dinner?”

 

*****

 

Fortunately for Alec, the place Magnus wanted to go to was right down the street from where Magnus lived, so the two of them were able to walk over there as soon as Magnus was ready to go—he had insisted upon changing and redoing his own makeup before they went to dinner and far be it from Alec to argue with him over that, choosing instead to text with his sister and, well, others while he waited on Magnus to try to calm his nerves.

 

Arguing with his family always was the way to go when he needed a distraction, after all.

 

 

*****

 

As soon as they were seated at a table at said restaurant, Alec’s eyes flicked around it, took in the dimmed lighting, the people scattered about them at tables that sat two to four tops—though most were seated with two people only—the white tablecloths, the light tinkling music that made for a more romantic atmosphere.

 

He cut his eyes back to Magnus with suspicion, this wasn’t the sort of restaurant you asked to go to when you won a bet with a friend, Alec thought, not allowing himself to be hopeful just yet. Magnus gave him a small smile in turn, shrugged at him, then picked up the wine list and glanced over it, trying to maintain an air of innocence about him, it seemed like. Not that Alec was buying it in the _least._

 

Alec simply did not know how to feel about that, about all of _this_. Did it mean that Magnus _liked_ him, that he _wanted_ this to be a date and not just the collection of a debt owed? Or did he just… _really_ like this particular restaurant?

 

It really wasn’t possible that Magnus liked him like that, though, he told himself, picking up the actual menu in front of him as Magnus continued searching over the wine list to give his sad eyes a distraction. The less he had to stare at the object of his affections, the less his heart would break, surely.

 

“Are you more a red or white kind of man?” Magnus asked, looking up at Alec over the top of the menu.

 

Alec’s breath caught in his throat as he looked up at Magnus over his own menu; he didn’t know it had been possible for Magnus to look even more stunning than usual, but between looking up at Alec through his lashes and the dimmed lighting of the restaurant, somehow, someway, Alec thought he had never met someone so beautiful. And fuck if that just wasn’t fair in the slightest.

 

Alec let out the breath that he was holding, and cleared his throat to try to gain some sense about him, shook his head.

 

“I, uhm,” he stuttered, much to the amusement of Magnus who had a slow smile spreading over his face. “I’m not actually much of a wine drinker, so… whatever you like is fine with me.”

 

Magnus looked at him for another long moment, holding Alec in place with his eyes, and leaving him unable to break eye contact for the longest of moments. It felt like there was no one else in the restaurant, like they weren’t even _in_ a restaurant anymore. In that moment, it was just Alec and Magnus in the world, existing on a different plane where all that mattered was staring into each other’s eyes.

 

This was definitely beginning to border on date territory.

 

“Can I start you gentlemen off with something to drink?” a voice asked to their side, pulling Alec out of his trance.

 

In sync, he and Magnus both looked over to the waiter, who was eagerly, if a bit awkwardly, awaiting a response from them. Alec looked over to Magnus then, who named some wine Alec had never heard of before so the waiter could leave, promising to be back with the wine and to take their orders in a short moment.

 

Magnus turned to look at Alec once the waiter was gone, and Alec’s heart skipped a beat at the soft look he found there. This was going to be a long dinner that Alec hoped would never end.

 

*****

 

 

The wine had come and their glasses had been refilled a couple times by now, food had been ordered and brought to their table without them having realized enough time had even passed for the food to have been prepared in the first place.

 

It was timeless, this dinner with Magnus, every second melting into the other and brushed with laughter and smiles that painted stories of friends and childhood memories. And it was so easy, to talk to Magnus about everything and nothing at all, to trade stories like they had been friends for a lifetime now, to learn things about each other that they hadn’t shared with their YouTube community.

 

They barely talked about YouTube at all, actually. There was the odd throwaway comment about this video or that video if it pertained to a story they were telling at the moment, but for the most part, All That Glitters and Better Than Gold were forgotten completely in favor of Alec Lightwood and Magnus Bane, and Alec wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

They even ordered dessert, just to prolong the amount of time that they had together. And it was fucking _delicious,_ if simple, just a slice of cake with some ice cream on top that they shared at Magnus’ suggestion; they had both had a big dinner, after all, and he was sure neither of them would be able to finish a full dessert all on their own. It only made sense to _share,_ he insisted.

 

And far be it from Alec to complain when Magnus scooted close to him so they could better share the cake that was placed between them.

 

God, Alec thought that there was truly nothing better than sitting within a breath of Magnus Bane, sharing chocolate cake, giggling about some stupid anecdote that he didn’t think would be quite as funny under different lighting and with less sugar and alcohol in their blood.

 

“Alexander, you’re going to mess up your makeup if you don’t learn how to eat properly, and I spent _far_ too much time and energy on that to let a little chocolate mess it up,” Magnus laughed, leaning close to Alec and swiping his finger over the top of his lip, sending a shiver through Alec’s entire being.

 

He showed his finger to Alec, showed him the flash of chocolate frosting that had been out of reach of Alec’s tongue, that was now resting on his finger tip. He had a mischievous look on his face that made Alec raise an eyebrow at him, curious as to what he was up to before he popped the finger into his mouth, lips closing around it in a way that made his eyes flutter.

 

_Fuck._

 

Alec’s mouth fell open as Magnus reopened his eyes and made eye contact with Alec, gaze intense and refusing to move off of him as he released his finger from his mouth, and smacked his lips.

 

Was it just Alec, he wondered then, or was it so incredibly hard to breathe in that restaurant all of a sudden?

 

Magnus gave Alec a grin, amused as Alec opened and closed his mouth for a long moment that stretched out into eternity before them. And suddenly the tension was _palpable._ And Alec didn’t know what that _meant_ but fuck did he know what he _wanted_ it to mean.

 

“We’ll just have to find some other way to mess up my make up, then,” Alec said at last, voice low and husky, a stranger to his own ears.

 

No one had ever had _such_ an effect on him before, and it was so God damn thrilling that Magnus got to be the one to do this to him. And he certainly hoped that Magnus felt much the same way.

 

“I guess we will,” Magnus agreed, licking his bottom lip, and Alec was half convinced that was an invitation if ever he had received one.

 

*****

 

“Dinner was great,” Alec said, at a loss for words when they came to Magnus’ door, ending where they had begun their night.

 

After they had finished their dessert, Alec had insisted on walking Magnus home, and Magnus hadn’t complained in the slightest, choosing to loop his arm through Alec’s and lead him the way back to his place slowly, the cool night air hanging heavily around them, tucking them against each other in a comforting sort of way.

 

Alec wanted more than anything for this night to never end, though he knew he was anything _but_ that lucky.

 

“And dessert was _wonderful,”_ Magnus purred, unlooping his arm from Alec’s to stand in front of him instead now, and Alec was half convinced it was just so he could give Alec that same smirk he had given him earlier, not that he was going to complain about it at all.

 

“Most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever had,” Alec agreed hurriedly, eyes flicking down to Magnus’ lips as he remembered the other wiping the chocolate off his lip, pressing the finger with it into his own mouth in such a sensual way, driving Alec absolutely out of his mind the entire while.

 

If he ever forgot that image, he hoped that it was because he was on death’s doorstep and had already forgotten everything else, his own name included.

 

“You and me both,” Magnus murmured, and, although the movement was miniscule, Alec still caught it when his eyes flicked down to Alec’s lips as well.

 

And Alec didn’t know what either of them were waiting for, truly. He wanted to kiss Magnus more than he wanted anything else in the world just then, and he was sorely convinced that Magnus wanted to kiss him as well—he would have bet an extraordinary amount of money on that fact, actually. If he went home without doing as much, he thought that he would absolutely never forgive himself.

 

His sister wouldn’t forgive him either, actually, but, well, now was not the time to be thinking about _Isabelle,_ thank you very _much_.

 

“Magnus,” he began then, swallowing harshly to try to quell his nerves. “would you mind…” he trailed off, his heart pounding loudly in his chest, making him pause to try to still it, to try to get his nerves back about him.

 

“… if we ruined our make up?” Magnus added for him, lips quirking up as he took a step into Alec’s personal space.

 

Alec grinned madly as he took a step closer to Magnus as well until there was barely a breath between them, and he nodded.

 

“Yeah, that,” he murmured, leaning down and into Magnus in the same second that Magnus hummed and leaned into him.

 

And then they were _kissing,_ and Alec grabbed Magnus’ waist without thinking to tug him closer in the same second that Magnus wound his hands into Alec’s hair, tugging lightly as they kissed and they kissed and they _kissed._ And Alec thought he had never experienced something so amazing in his life.

 

Kissing Magnus felt _right._ It was like the world stopped spinning and time froze them in place exactly where they were, and every nerve that had been standing on edge and making him feel jittery and like he was going to mess this up somehow or that Magnus thought he was an idiot, that he didn’t like him like Alec liked him, simply… stopped. Every worry and every fear was instantly soothed and everything was just.

 

 _Still_.

 

The world was _still_ and Alec felt _amazing_ , like he fit in nowhere else, like he was buzzing with happiness and just how right and amazing this whole thing was.

 

Alec let out a shuddering breath as the pair of them broke apart, unwilling to open his eyes for a second as he took it all in, let the reality of the situation sink in. There was no going back from this, not that he would want to for even a second.

 

He opened his eyes at the same time that Magnus did, and was unable to help the grin that took over his face as Magnus leaned his forehead against his own, a grin on his face that Alec wanted very badly to kiss off.

 

So he did.

 

He leaned back in and kissed Magnus again, and the other slid a hand down from Alec’s hair to cup his cheek instead now, fingers burning against his skin in the most glorious of ways. And suddenly instead of the world being still it was spinning furiously, his mind racing with the nonthinking feeling of Magnus _Magnus_ **_Magnus_** , the feeling spreading through out his entire being; he felt his world slip out from under him, then, as if he was in free fall.  

 

There was something addictive about Magnus, about his kiss, about the way he made the rest of the world fall apart and made _himself_ Alec’s whole world instead. And Alec hoped to whatever God that there was that he never had to give any of this up.

 

And suddenly he was _so_ afraid of Magnus not feeling the same way that it _hurt_ in a way that he thought it really shouldn’t have. Magnus shouldn’t have already had the ability to break his heart, he thought, it simply was not _fair._

 

Magnus pulled away first that time, panting hard as he leaned his forehead back against Alec’s, Alec’s breathing just as hard as his was.

 

They stood like that for a long moment, catching their breaths, not daring to break eye contact all the while. Alec was afraid that if they did—when they did—it would all stop feeling this way, and that he would forget entirely what it had felt like to begin with. It was almost like falling into madness, he mused, but in the best way possible.

 

And the surest sign that it _was_ madness was simply the fact that Alec loved every second of it, and wanted to experience it a million more times over.

 

“Wow,” he breathed when words came back to him, the word low and whispery, full of all the amazement and wonder that he felt.

 

“Wow indeed,” Magnus echoed, fingers tangling in Alec’s hair again in the most wonderful of ways.

 

“I…” Alec said. “… when can I see you again?” he asked without thinking, though he had been unsure what else he was going to say anyway.

 

“Whenever you want to, my dear Alexander,” Magnus replied all too easily, smiling softly at Alec before he leaned back in to kiss him.

 

And Alec thought that he quite liked that answer very much.

 

 

*****

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> **So I don't have an iPhone, and I don't use Instagram, and I have no idea how the numbers on YouTube work so all the numbers I used are totally made up off the top of my head, so if any of that looks off to you guys, that's why. And the psds I used for the YouTube, iMessage, and Instagram graphics can be found[here](https://chickguan.tumblr.com/tagged/rey.psd).**


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